


Family Ain't Just Blood

by celestialskies



Category: Ruby Redfort Series - Lauren Child
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Pure, and i kept thinking about how ruby would need someone after all the shit in bayd, i would die for these two, platonic, so I wrote this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 04:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11775084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialskies/pseuds/celestialskies
Summary: Ruby looked up, aware that she probably looked like someone had tried to rock her to sleep by dragging her through a hedge backwards several times. Six hours of sleep over three days can do that to a person."Couldn't sleep," she muttered. In her tired state, she barely noticed Hitch's expression shift from one of surprise surprise and mild amusement to one of concern.Ruby can't sleep, and Hitch steps in.





	Family Ain't Just Blood

As everyone who knew her would attest, Ruby Redfort was not what one might call an 'early bird'. In fact, if there was no school and she had nothing to work on, it was rare to find her awake before 11am. So, the sight of Ruby sat at the kitchen table at 6:36am was certainly a rare one, and it was no surprise when Hitch had to do a double take.

"Well I'll be darned, you're up before noon," Hitch remarked. "What one earth woke you up so early?"

Ruby looked up, aware that she probably looked like someone had tried to rock her to sleep by dragging her through a hedge backwards several times. Six hours of sleep over three days can do that to a person.

"Couldn't sleep," she muttered. In her tired state, she barely noticed Hitch's expression shift from one of surprise surprise and mild amusement to one of concern.

"Something bothering you, kid?" Ruby shook her head.

"S'nothing."  
Hitch frowned.

"Considering it seemed to keep you awake all night, it doesn't seem like nothing."  
Too tired to come up with a witty reply after three nights of little to no sleep, Ruby simply shook her head.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now."

The Redfort household manager sighed, knowing it would be fruitless to try and weasel an answer out of her.

"Alright, I won't make you. But if ever you do want to talk to someone, especially about Spectrum related stuff, I'm willing to listen. I know you'd probably rather talk to Clancy Crew, but in case you can't get hold of Clancy, or you just want someone else to talk to for any reason, I'm here," he said gently. There was a pause, and Hitch had just began to worry he'd said too much when Ruby spoke up.

"Thanks, Hitch. I appreciate it."

"Anytime, kid," Hitch said, laying a hand on her shoulder as he passed.

Ruby watched as Hitch popped a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. And as she sat there, she wondered if talking to him might actually help. It might be nice to get it off her chest, and talk to someone other than Clancy for a change.

Recently, Ruby had been having recurring nightmares; all about Casey Morgan, Marnie Novak, or the Count. She'd had wierd dreams and nightmares before, of course, but never this bad or this frequent. As a result, she often had a lot of trouble falling asleep, partly because she didn't want to for fear of more nightmares. Maybe talking to Hitch wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Actually," she began, and Hitch turned.

"Could I talk to you about it after all?"

"Of course." He slid a plate of toast in front of her. "Thought you might want something to eat. Want me to make hot cocoa before you start?" Ruby nodded.

"That'd be nice."

Once they both had a mug of hot cocoa and some toast, and had moved into the front room ("The chairs are a lot comfier," Hitch had declared), Ruby began.

She told him everything. She told him how the dreams always began the same way, on New Years Eve 1974. She told him how sometimes they featured different villains. She even told him how the worst ones were dreams where "Buzz" turned out to genuinely be an acronym for Brenda Ulla Zane, and Hitch was the real Casey Morgan. Those were the worst ones, she said quietly, because it meant that a part of her subconscious could really believe that Hitch was a murderer who wanted her dead.

And Hitch listened, and he didn't judge, and he didn't say anything until she'd finished. When he did speak up, he told her everything he knew about stopping or helping with nightmares and offered to speak to Dr. Harper for her.

Ruby thanked him, and returned to her bedroom. And for some reason, she found herself sleeping better than she had since before 1974 had begun.

* * * *

It became a routine for them. Whenever Ruby had a wierd dream, or couldn't sleep, or was just generally over something Spectrum related, she would come and find Hitch. He'd make them both a mug of cocoa, and sometimes he'd make pancakes (once, they even went to get donuts at 3:23 in the morning). And they'd talk about it, or they'd watch TV together, or they'd just sit in silence. (Sometimes, Hitch would tell her stories of a young LB - turns out she was quite the laugh). And life wasn't perfect - they still had no idea where the Count was or if he was even still alive, and Ruby still had bad dreams - but now they had each other. They had family.


End file.
